to this mighty end, has now long since been made and fully confirmed by miracle and by fulfilled prophecy, and, so far as we can judge, God's moral government of the Universe no longer requires the bestowal upon man of the power of prescience and prophecy, or any other superhuman endowment. There are indeed few hearts, except the most dull and cold, that do not at times chafe and fret beneath the darkness of the cloud that excludes from their gaze the view into futurity: but yet how foolish, as well as wicked, is this impatience! How wretched a boon would its withdrawal almost in every instance prove! Were that cloud-curtain raised, and the whole path of our coming life exposed to our view in the clear, cold light of day, with all its hosts of petty cares and deeper grief and trials, from which the lot of scarcely one of us is free, the result would most probably be a despair, that would unnerve and unqualify us for all exertion. We should have no desire but to "lie down and die." As regards the PAST, it is altogether different. Here our curiosity may be exercised not only legitimately, but with advantage to ourselves and others. The search after Truth is ever both wholesome and profitable, and he is a benefactor to his race, who elicits from the obscurity of the by-gone time, even one ray of the cheering light of Truth. The history of the Past, whether in regard to nations, dynasties, communities, associations, or individuals, is full of instruction, if we only know how to acquire and to apply it. It has become the fashion, to a great extent, in these very fast and forward times, to speak and think of history, as of some useless, antiquated lumber, that has no interest or reasonable attraction for the ac tive, enterprising, energetic men of the 19th century, and especially, of this great Continent. This young-America theory however has failed to commend itself either to our reason, or our feelings. On all the pages of the world's written history, from the days of Herodotus to those of Macaulay, and on every page of the vast world-book of Nature, spread out before us by sea and land-by mountain, forest, lake and vale-we read, in clear characters, the testimony that history is ever revolving in cycles, repeating itself, albeit under changed conditions and on a more extended scale-that Human Nature is the same today as it was four thousand years ago and that like motives, desires, passions, working in the heart of man, do produce, and always must produce, like results. We therefore stand firmly by the sound old doctrine, "History is philosophy teaching by example."

We have said that our natural curiosity is often strongly exci'ed even in reference to matters of minor importance: it follows, a majori, that in regard to those of higher consequence, or of more intimate connection with our interests or affections, this curiosity assumes a more intense and

energetic form. With what persevering diligence do we not constantly ob serve families, in this our Puritan, Republican New England, striving to trace back their descent, not merely to the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, but still back and back, up the stream of English History, to a far more distant period! Many of the greatest and most gifted minds, both in this country and in "our old Home," (to use Hawthorne's touching words,) have devoted themselves to the task of tracing the rise and progress of our Constitutional Law. Others, no less endowed with genius and learning, have been, and are, daily investigating the History of societies, institutions, and customs, by which our country and community are illustrated and benefited. The more important and more valuable any such object of investigation is, the worthier, of course, is it of our labor and research. Now, the Order of the Rose Croix is precisely an object of this kind. It is, in its whole nature and constitution, pure, noble and holy-the wisdom and value of its teachings are reverently recognized by large numbers of the best and brightest" Masons in both Hemispheres-it is acknowledg ed on all hands to be very ancient in its origin-and yet that origin is in volved in a degree of obscurity that whets our curiosity and stimulates and stirs to action our spirit of inquiry and antiquarian investigation.

The Order of the Rose Croix is the eighteenth degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, as the degrees of that Rite are arranged in this country, and, with the exception of the first three degrees, it is probably the most ancient, as it certainly is one of the most sublime and beautiful, of all the degrees of Freemasonry. It is more widely diffused, more select in its character, and, especially on the continent of Europe, where it is almost universally cultivated, it is more highly esteemed, than any other of the various Masonic grades. The fact that it is steadily and strongly gaining ground, and attracting interest in this country also, and that to an extent, which plainly shows that it is destined henceforth to hold a very prominent place in, and exercise a very powerful influence over, the history of American Freemasonry, has led us to devote some time and labor to an investigation into its origin :-and, although we may have less of absolute authentic history, than of probability and reasonable inference, to offer in support of the conclusions at which we have arrived, we believe that a brief discussion of the subject will not be devoid of interest to all our Brethren, and particularly to those who are more immediately and intimately engaged in the elucidation of its principles, and the practice of its sublime ceremonies.

Before we conclude, we trust to succeed in offering reasonable proof that this Order of the Rose Croix is, in its origin, both very ancient and very venerable as venerable, to a certain extent, as Christianity itself, for

indeed all its emblems, symbols, ceremonies and teachings, go clearly and unmistakeably to show, that it was originally a Christian and religious institution, and not simply a Masonic one-that, in fact, it was a religious Order, adopted at a later period into, and elevated to, a deservedly high rank in the grades of Freemasonry. It will be however not only desira. ble, but necessary, in the first place to examine some of the theories that have been advanced concerning it by previous writers, even though we may deem some of those theories to have been rather ingenious and fanciful than probable or well founded.

The members of the Order have been variously styled "Knights of the Rose Croix," "Princes of the Rose Croix de Heredom," "Princes of Rose Croix de Heroden," &c. Ragon, a French author, says that the word Heredom (which seems to have given rise to much of the doubt and confusion that exists in regard to the title,) was invented by the Stuarts, and was a corruption of the mediæval Latin term Hæredium, signifying a piece of ground fallen by inheritance." Another Masonic writer gives the word as Heroden, and asserts it to be the name of a mountain, situated in the north west of Scotland, where the first Metropolitan Lodge of Europe was held; and he suggests that the present orthography may be the French mode of spelling it. But unfortunately for the tenability of this writer's view, there is no such mountain as "Heroden" known ever to have existed in Scotland. Other writers again have sought to identify the Order of the Rose Croix with that of the "Rosy Cross," or "Rosicrucians," an Order that can be clearly proved to be entirely distinct and different from the former, in origin, in character, and in objects.

The former was, and is, cminently religious: Christian in all its principles and practices :-the latter was simply cabalistic and chemical. The. one, like the Christianity from which it sprung, had for its aim and object the purifying of the soul and heart of man, and the cherishing and cultivating of the Christian and Masonic virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity : the other, while mixing up something of religious mysticism with its alchemy and false philosophy, had for its chief object of desire and discov ery, the philospher's stone! And as this confounding of the Order of the Rose Croix with the Rosicrusians is the error that we have found most frequently fallen into by various writers, we presume from the similarity of name; it may not be out of place to explain briefly who the Rosicrucians were. Rose Croix is the "Rose Cross; " but the name "Rosicrucian," is derived from ros, the Latin word for dew, and "crux,” “cross.” The former they held to be the most powerful solvent of gold, the latter, the cross, signified, in their alchemical style, "light," because the fig ure of the cross exhibits at the same time the three letters in the word

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Lux," "Light," which, according to the absurd jargon of this sect, was the menstruum of the red Dragon; that is, the substance out of which gold is produced. The Rosicrucians then were alchemists, who sought for the philospher's stone by the intervention of dew and of light.

These absurdities were associated with others, which it would be useJess to enumerate; but the ruling principle of their society seems to have been the imposing mystery in which they wrapped up everything that they knew, or pretended to know, as if the secrets of Nature were made known to them, for the very purpose of being kept secret from all others. Mosheim, the Church Historian, after enumerating their leaders, has some valuable remarks on this society, of which we give the substance: name. ly-that an uniformity of opinion and a spirit of concord seemed scarcely possible in such a society as this: for, as a great part of its doctrine is derived from certain internal feelings and flights of imagination, which can neither be comprehended nor defined, and is supported by testimonies of the external senses, whose reports are illusory and changeable, so it is remarkable that, among the more eniinent writers of this sect, there are scarcely any two who adopt the same tenets and sentiments. There are, nevertheless, some common principles that are generally embraced, and which serve as a centre of union to the Society. They maintain that the dissolution of bodies by the power of fire, is the only way through which men can arrive at true wisdom, and come to discern the first principles of things. They all acknowledge a certain analogy and harmony between the powers of Nature and the doctrines of Religion, and believe that the Deity governs the Kingdom of Grace by the same laws, with which He rules the Kingdom of Nature: and hence it is that they employ chemical denominations to express the truths of Religion. They all hold, that there is a sort of divine energy or soul, diffused through the frame of the Universe, which some call "Archæus," others, "Universal Spirit," and which others mention under different appellations. They all talk in the most obscure and superstitious manner of what they call "the signatures of things: "-of the power of the stars over all corporeal beings, and their particular influence over the human race-of the efficacy of magic, and the various species and classes of demons. In fine, they all agree in throwing out the most crude, incomprehensible notions and ideas, in the most obscure, quaint and unusal expressions. To this epitome of Mosheim's account, we may add, that the Rosicrucians affirmed that the ancient philosphers of Egypt, the Chaldeans, the Magi of Persia, and the Gymnosophists of India, had maintained the same doctrines that they advocated. We believe the above to be a fair, unbiassed statement of the doctrines of the Rosicrucians, and it will presently be seen,

how utterly opposed all this fanciful and transcendental theory was to the principles and practice of the Order of Rose Croix.

From this digression we return to consider some of the other opinions and theories advanced by various writers. Baron Westerode, who wrote in 1784, supposes the Order to have been instituted by the Knights Templars in Palestine, in the early part of the 12th century; and he asserts that Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward I. of England, was there admitted into the Order. He also states that it was derived from Ormecius, an Egyptian priest, who had been converted to Christianity.

Ragon, previously cited, in his Trestise entitled "Orthodoxie Maçonnique," has very elaborately examined the subject, and he attributes its origin to a pious monk named John Valentine Andreä, who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. Andreä wrote, among other works, two treatises, one entitled “ Judæorum de Fraternitate, R. C:”—the other, "Noces Chemiques de Rozen Kreuz." Ragon says that Andreä, grieved at seeing the principles of Christianity forgotten in idle and vain disputes,' and that science was made subservient to the pride of man, instead of contributing to his happiness, passed his days in devising what he supposed to be the most appropriate means of restoring each to its legitimate, moral and benevolent tendency.

Clavel, a recent French author, absurdly affirms that the Degree was founded by the Jesuits, for the purpose of counteracting the insidious at tacks of free-thinkers upon the Romish faith; but he does not offer any evidence in support of his assertion and we need scarcely observe that the Jesuits are, and always have been, the most determined enemies of Masonry. Some other authors have imagined that they had discovered the origin of the Degree, or, at least, of its emblems, in a book published in 1001, by Jacobus Tipolus, the historiographer to Rudolph the Second ; but there does not seem to be any sufficient authority for this conclusion. The Degree is also said to have been alluded to in the works of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, a man of great learning and talent, born in 1486, of a noble family of Cologne. His works were published at Leyden, in 1550. Ile practised as a physician and astrologer, and was believed by the superstitious ignorance of the age, to be addicted to magical arts.

The learned Dr. Oliver, of England, says, that he finds the Degree mentioned in a publication of 1613, entitled "La Reformation Universelle de l'Ordre respectable de la Rose Croix;" but he adds, that it was known much sooner, although not probably as a Degree in Masonry. There is a tradition extant, that, after the dissolution of the Knights Tem. plars, many of them repaired to Scotland, in order to place themselves under the protection of Robert the Bruce; and that, after the battle of